[u:090c873718][b:090c873718]Prologue: Even Angels Fall[/b:090c873718][/u:090c873718]

[b:090c873718]Somewhere In Los Angeles[/b:090c873718]

Red's Bar and Grill was crowded tonight. Usually Red was lucky to get ten people a night, but tonight was different. The bar was packed from wall to wall with people. There were the ten or so regulars sitting at their usual seats. The rest of the room was full of bikers, a roving gang had stopped in on their way to nowhere. Towards the center of the bar sat a pale, unusually large man wearing the standard leathers from head to toe. He had most of the women in the gang surrounding him and the other men responded to him with fear, there was no doubt that this was their leader. One of the bikers went up to the jukebox in the corner and put in his coins. The machine soon rang out with the sounds of George Thorogood and the Destroyers. The room was in such a drunken stupor that none of them noticed the man standing next to the jukebox.

Griq stood leaning against the wall near the jukebox and watched the sea of humanity move about the bar. "Peons." He mumbled to himself. He scanned the room, stopping when he caught sight of the leader. He thought out loud for a moment "Enjoy it while you can, your time will come." Griq moved his gaze to the glass of beer the leader was holding and in an instant the glass liqufied, spilling the contents onto the unsuspecting biker.

"What the? How the hell?" The leader quickly began to look around. After about a minute of frantic searching he looked directly at Griq. "Aw, sonuva bitch! Not you again, kill that asshole!" Several of the bikers got up and ran at Griq, only to be stopped by the air around them.

Griq smiled, still staring at the leader, "Now that's just not nice. Why don't you and I step outside and have ourselves a chat?" Griq then dissapeared through the wall he was leaning on. The head of the gang quickly got to his feet and stormed out the door after him.

"It's so much better out here, nice cool night air. What do you think, Darius?"

Without saying a word Darius lunged at Griq, running head first into solid air. Chuckling, Griq looked down at Darius, "That looked like it hurt, are you alright? You better not move, your stupidity will just get you into more trouble." Darius's clothes quickly turned to liqid and then crystallized. "There, now that your nice and secure, we can have a chat. Do you remeber why i've been chasing your big idiotic self all this way? Do you remeber when you killed my sire?....I do. And that makes me angry. Do you know what happens to people that i'm angry at?" He takes out a match and strikes it. At the sight of the flame Darius struggles to no avail as the crysallized bonds hold him still. "They get burned." He lowers the flame to meet Darius's flesh. Darius holds in the pain and doesn't move.

"Hmmmm...I guess that you dont mind a little fire. How about a lot?" Griq pulls out a can of lighter fluid from behind him and pours it all over Darius.

A short while later Griq puts out the remaining flame and gathers some of the ashes. "Two down, four to go..."

The cold night air blew across the near empty parking lot. Only two cars remained after a busy day of cars flowing in and out of the lot. The first was a neon yellow 1998 Mustang GT. The small red light on the inside was blinking, telling the world to leave it alone. Opposite the Mustang was an old GMC van with blackened windows. It wasn't horribly disfigured on the outside but it showed several signs of age. From the aweful mix of brown paints to the lack of hubcaps on it's wheels.

Griq stood at the edge of the parking lot and gazed in amusement at the contrast. After a few seconds he began moving toward the mustang, chuckling to himself. He looked at the wheels and smiled. The knife in his hand quickly jabbed into the rear passenger tire, and shortly after it found it's way into the front passenger side tire. Griq smiled at his work and moved away, walking towards the van.

"I wonder if the waste of flesh that drove that realized what he did...maybe ill leave him a note." Griq paused momentarily to ponder his next move.

"Nah, he should figure that out on his own." Griq continued his walk toward the driver side door of the old van. All the way mumbling about rudeness and cutting people off. He took out his key ring. It was a simple silver loop holding two keys, a large one and another half it's size. He quickly took the ring by the large key and opened the van door. It took several times turning the key to start the van. "I need a new van." He whispered to himself.

The van pulled out slowly, avoiding the Mustang as it backed up. After a a quick gear shift the van rumbled out of the lot and down the street.

The van drove up to a small house and came to a stop. Griq cut the engine and put it in park. He locked the van and went inside the house. "Home..."

He moved over to the mantle atop the dingy fireplace and took a vial from his pocket. He looked down at it and then up at another just like it on the mantle. "Darius, now you can sit beside Tasha for all time. Have fun." He then placed the vial next to the stationary one on the mantle.

The disc began to spin in the CD player. Griq's hand moved to the volume nob and turned it up to it's maximum setting. His other arm moved toward the play button and pushed it. The speakers began to blare the opening riff to "Paint It Black". He turns and walks over to the couch on the opposite side of the room and takes a seat. Griq pulls the knife out of his left pocket and a thistle out of his right. He sets the thistle ontop of the small coffee table and uses the knife to open a small wound on his right palm. His blood drips down onto the thistle, coating it. Then the wound seals itself and he picks up the thistle. Griq puts the thistle and knife away.

"Where to go from here...?" He thinks back to his interrogation of Tasha. "After she told me about Darius, she said something about Mastross...what did she say...?" His head lowers into the palms of his hands and then quickly shoots back up. "Vegas! She said he was in Las Vegas!"

His eyes darted back and forth. "Who do I know in Vegas...? Ah, I think Reily is still there..." Griq stands up and moves to the phone. He pulls out his old phone book and starts to thumb through the alphebet. When he gets to 'R' he stops and scans the names. "Damn, not in here...wait a minute...not R, I should be looking in G" He flips back through to the 'G' section and finds the name Riley Grannan. Griq smiles at his small victory.

Griq picks up the reciever and calls the listed number. He is answered by a peppy high pitched voice. "MGM Grand hotel and casino, What room please?"

"I'm not sure, the one that Mr. Grannan is staying in."

The voice answers back witha slightly shakey, less chipper tone. "I'm sorry but Mr. Grannan said he was not to be disturbed."

Griq smiles. "Too late, he's already disturbed. Just call him and tell him the cat who walks through walls is on the line, i'm sure he'll wanna talk to me."

The high pitched voice didn't respond, instead Griq heard the sounds of the 'on hold' musak. A few moments later, the musak was interupted and instead of the high pitched desk clerk, Griq hears a much more familiar voice.

"The cat who walks through walls? That is by far the lamest excuse for an introduction that I have ever heard. Other then that, how've you been?"

Griq's smile brightened. "I'm alright, but I was thinking about coming up to Vegas for a few days and wondered if you wanna show me around. Maybe we can have some good old fashioned fun. What do you say?"

Reily's voice gets a little excited. "Hell yeah, where are you coming in from? I'll have a car waiting for you at the airport." Reily pauses, "Wait, what kinda fun are you talking about?"

Griq gets a little more serious, "You know what I mean...But i'll explain it better when I get there. Ill give you flight details tomorrow before i head out. I'll see you soon."

"I'll be awaiting your arrival old friend. See you tomorrow night."

Griq hangs up the phone and walks into his bedroom. "Time to pack..."

[b:302472dca3]The Las Vegas Airport[/b:302472dca3]

Griq walks up to the luggage pickup and waits as the bags go around. He keeps his eyes focused at the top as the new luggage falls out, waiting for his suitcase. After only a few moments he spots his bag. He walks over closer to the roundabout and picks it up. The bag rolls along behind him as he makes his way to the parking lot. He steps through the door and slowly scans the drivers for the one holding the right sign. When he finds him he moves up to the driver.

“Evening, your holding my name.”

The driver nervously stutters, “Y-y-yess. Mr. Grannan sent me to pick you up.”

“I bet he did…wait, maybe I shouldn’t start betting yet.” He smiles to the driver, “I think it’s time to go.”

“Yessir.”

The driver takes Griq’s bags and puts them in the trunk, then opens the door for him. After Griq takes his seat in the limo, the driver gets in the front and drives away. Twenty minutes later they arrive at the MGM Grand and the driver lets Griq out. A bus boy takes his bags and motions to Griq to follow him into the hotel. Griq’ guide takes him up the elevator and to the top floor. When they exit the lift Griq notices there are only two rooms on the floor. The bus boy opens the one on the left and puts his bags in the room. Griq looks at the bus boy.

“Who’s in the other room across the hall?”

The bus boy extends his palm. Griq sighs and asks again, this time with more emphasis. The bus boy puts his hand down.

“That’s Mr. Grannan’s room.”

Griq smiles, “Thanks, that’s all I needed you for. Leave.”

The young boy hurries out of the room, leaving the door open behind him. Griq then spins around and walks out of the room and up to the door across the hall. His hand raises and gets ready to knock. Griq stops himself and grins playfully. He lowers his hand and walks through the wall. After a quick glance around the room he hears some commotion from one of the many rooms in the penthouse. Griq walks over to the room the noise is coming from and puts an ear to the wall. “Riley, you never change.” He whispers to himself. Griq knocks on the door.

“Hey Riley, I’ll be next door when you two are done.” Griq turns and starts to walk away when the door opens behind him.

“Hey, I swear we were just playing a little poker.”

Griq turns around and sees Reily in a loose robe. He looks behind him and sees a woman covering herself in bed sheets.

“Right poke-her, gotcha. Take your time, I can wait.” Griq leans to the side and waves to the woman in the bed. “Hey Angela, how’s he been treating you?”

“Just as wonderful as the day we met.” Angela calls back.

Griq laughs, “You can remember that far back? Ah, well it’s great to see you both; however I need to borrow your childe for a little while. Don’t worry; I’ll bring him back in one piece.”

She smiles, “You better, I remember the last time you ‘borrowed’ him. I was worried sick.”

“Just trust me this time. He’ll be fine. After all, he’ll be with me.”

She scowls at Griq, and he quickly waves to her and walks out and back into his own room.

((Griq sounds like a fun guy :) Don't stop now, keep up the posting!

Several minutes later Griq hears a knock on his door.

“Who is it?” He calls to the door.

Reily’s familiar voice answers back, “You know damn well who it is, now open the door so we can talk.”

Griq puts down the book he was reading and looks over to the door. He smiles and the door opens to reveal Riley shaking his head. After a moment he stops his shaking and looks at Griq. He walks in to the room and shuts the door behind him.

“Would it kill you to do something the [i:5e70fd6985]normal[/i:5e70fd6985] way. Just once is all I ask.”

Griq doesn’t break his joyful expression. “More than likely, it would. Anyway, take a seat.” Reily sits at another armchair beside Griq. Griq continues, “I don’t really want to beat around the bush, but do you remember my sire?”

Reily thinks a moment. “Vaguely, he was always busy with policing the west coast. Being an Archon kinda kills your social life.”

“Sadly, that’s very true. I remember traveling with him on occasion. Everything we did was business. I can’t believe he actually wanted me to be an Archon…” Griq pauses for a moment, lost in thought. “But that’s not what I came here to talk about. He was murdered a few months back by several Sabbat. They ambushed him and now he’s ash.”

Reily’s jaw drops. “You’ve got to be shittin’ me. Your sire? Athwyn? The Tremere Archon? How many is several? Thirty, maybe forty?”

“Six. Just six. But these are some heavy hitters. For a relatively small pack they had two Black Hand agents and a Templar. I’ve already taken care of two of them and I’ve found out that another one is havening right here. Under the guise of being a Cam loyalist Ventrue.”

“Really? A few of our resident Ventrue come to mind. Do you know their name?” Reily leans forward, inquisitively.

“I know his true name, but he may be using another name. His name is David Masstros. The only other thing I know is that he’s Malkavian, so were going to have to ready our minds for the onslaught.”

“Well, I think you’re in luck. I know a Ventrue named David. I’m not sure his last name, but I could always pull a favor and find out. If it is him you better be ready to prove who he is because this city is crawling with Ventrue and there gonna want an explanation.”

Griq leans forward, “What if we force a bone of lies on him? Wait, I just thought of a better idea.”

Reily smiles, “This better not result in anything worse then last time.”

“Don’t worry it’s not that risky. I was thinking we should do this the good old fashioned way. Show up at his house stake ‘em and get him away from everywhere. Then leave the rest to me.”

Reily chuckles, “I was afraid you’d say that. Your problem is that you still think we’re taking the war to them. You need to go back to doing things the Camarilla way.”

“Reily, this has nothing to do with the war. This is personal. If I wanted to care about the war I wouldn’t have left Chicago in the first place, but when I found out they killed him I couldn’t sit idly by. Think about it from my perspective. What if they had killed Angela?”

“Alright, I can see where you’re coming from. Let me make some calls and if things check out we’ll head over to his house and go with your plan. If it isn’t the right Ventrue, then what?”

Griq leans back, “Then we do a little bit of digging and find the right one.”

Reily pulls out a cell phone and dials. Griq ignores the conversation and waits for Reily to finish. After twenty minutes and several phone calls he puts his cell phone away and turns to Griq.

“You’re in luck, not only is he the right David, but his clan is suspecting his honesty. Apparently his cover story didn’t check out.”

Griq smiles, “Perfect, do you know where we can find him?”

“I know a very likely place and I can try to find his haven, but it’ll take some time.”

“That’s Fine by me, let’s go where you think he might be.” Griq stands up and waits for Reily to do the same. After Reily gets up they leave the room and head down to the lobby via elevator. The pair moves together silently as they pass through the main floor of the MGM Grand. When they get out front the doorman opens both doors of a 2003 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish. Reily gets in the drivers seat and Griq sits in the passenger. They pull out and slowly move through the downtown traffic and eventually turn down an alleyway. They pull up next to a pale door. As they exit the vehicle Reily locks it and sets the alarm.

They approach the grey door and Reily knocks. An insanely large man steps out and looks them over. He grunts and moves out of their way, holding the door for them. After they enter he slams the door shut behind them. Griq and Reily start to walk down a plain hallway and stop when they reach the door at the opposite end. Reily opens the door and Griq looks in.

He looks around at a small, bland club with only three patrons. After a more careful analysis, Griq turns to Reily, “Kindred only huh? I haven’t been to a place like this in a while.”

Noticing his remarks, a large man at the bar turns and looks his way, “Oh great, just what this place needs, more Ravnos.”

Griq and Reily look to each other and smile then Griq faces the large man, “It would be in your best interest if in the future you [i:5e70fd6985]think[/i:5e70fd6985], then speak. I only bring it up because not only are you assuming that the two of us are clan mates, but you also just insulted my friend’s clan. If I counted that right, it makes two strikes against you. Care to go for a third?”

The large man stands up and walks over to Griq, “You got some balls on ya, little man.” He extends his hand. “Name’s Riker. If you ain’t Ravnos, then what are ya?”

Griq thinks a moment and shakes Riker’s hand. “I’m Griq and my clan isn’t that important. But I think we should move out of the doorway, in case someone wants to get by.”

Riker stops for a moment to process Griq’s words. Then he moves back into the room and pulls up a chair at the table with the rest of the Kindred in the room. “C’mon and take a seat, I’ll introduce you to my buddies here.”

Griq and Reily move in and pull up chairs to the table. Riker points to a well dressed man next to him. “This is Frank and next to him is Dave. Guy’s, this is Griq and he ain’t Ravnos.”

Griq smiles, “What an introduction, thank you Riker.”

Dave leans forward, “So then, Griq the non-Ravnos, what brings you to Sin City?”

“Just here for a couple nights visiting with an old friend.” He says.

“Oh, so you and Reily go back then?” Dave smiles.

“We go back quite a way, but it has been a little while since we’ve been able to have some fun. Maybe make some money while I’m here.”

Dave perks up at the mention of money, “Oh really? So you like to make money then?”

“Who doesn’t? I’ve amassed a decent fortune and I could always use more.”

Dave takes a sip of something, “So then I take it your Ventrue like myself?”

Griq nods, “Yes, quite so. Maybe you can help me set up some investments in the area before I leave?”

Dave thinks about it, “I think I could help direct you to the right people. When do you think you’ll have time?”

Griq looks to Reily, “Right now seems as good a time as any. I’ll swing back to the hotel after we’re done so we can catch up.”

Reily shrugs, “Sounds great to me, I’ll be there when you’re done. Knock on the door this time.”

Dave and Griq stand and leave the building. Outside Dave leads them to a Porsche and they get in. As he’s starting up the car he looks at Griq, “So, what kind of business we’re you thinking about getting your fingers into?”

“Well, gambling is a big money maker so I was thinking casinos”

Dave drives into traffic and they make their way out of downtown, “Casino’s can be a great venture. I have several of them under my control.”

“And they yield good return? Well, I usually stick with car companies as most of my business is run out of the Great Lakes area. Primarily Chicago, have you ever been up to Chicago?”

Panic washes over Dave’s face, “N-N-No, never been there. What would make you think that?”

“I thought I recognized you, I guess I was wrong. Are you sure you’ve never been there?”

“Well, now that I think about it, I was there once just a little while ago. I had some business to take care of with a Tremere.”

Griq clenches his teeth, “Which one? I might know them.”

The car pulls up into an alleyway and parks. “I think we both know who he is. More importantly, we both know why you’re here.”

((heh, good job... deaht and carnage, i like it... now what would happen if inanna rolled up...lol))

[b:f155e5d63d]Leaving On A Jet Plane[/b:f155e5d63d]

[b:f155e5d63d][i:f155e5d63d]several hours later in front of the MGM Grand...[/i:f155e5d63d][/b:f155e5d63d]

"How did it go?" Reily's smile in direct contrast to Griq's sombre disposition.

Griq tosses a small vial to Reily. Instinctively he catches it. "What is th..." Reily looks carefully at the vial as he speaks. "So three down then?" Reily hands it back to Griq.

Griq slowly nods. "But that still leaves three more. I only know what David here told me. He said something about one of them being somewhere outside of Cascadia. I think my best bet is to take a look around there, maybe someone there can help."

Reily maintains his smile. "Y'know if things work out your always welcome back here."

Griq nods to him and extends a hand and Reily shakes it. "Well, you know me, I have to come back and get you in trouble. I don't know how long this'll take, but I will be back after it's over."

Griq opens the taxi door and steps in, shutting it behind him. The driver pulls away and heads to the airport as the two wave goodbye.


[b:f155e5d63d]To be continued in The Eye of Ra...[/b:f155e5d63d]